Joint structure



July 10, 1945. A; E. WAGSTAFF 2,380,348

JOINT STRUCTURE Filed June a, 1942 INVENTOR ALBERT EWAGSTAFF ATTORN EYSPatented July 10, 1945 I 2,380,348 JOINT smoc'runn Albert E. 'Wagstaff,Frankfort, N. is, as ign to International Heater Gompany,,Utica, N. Y.,a

corporation of New York. I l v Application June B,1942, SerialNo.446.314

101mm. (o1. 1-89-36) My present invention relates to a joint struc tureof generaluse and broad application but for definiteness it isillustrated and described as used for attaching-the casing tothe frontof a warm air heater.

The purpose of my present invention is to provide new, improved and moreconvenient and eflicient jointstructure especially useful for attachingthe casing-usually of thin sheet metal, to the side flanges of the frontof a warm air heater.

A further purpose is to provide a joint struc-v ture which when usedwith the'casing of a warm air heater has no exterior brackets or otherparts construction wherein the vertical orend edges of.

the casing are provided or formed with a hook,

as by turningxinwardly andbackwardly againstthe'main portion ofthec'asingfanarrow strip of the casing, and-to provide upon the sideflanges of the front a series of inwardly extending. rigid lugs spacedback from theedges of the flange, which lugs are adapted to haveattached thereto a screw threaded member, and then to provide adjustableand readily attachable and detachable clamps each comprising a hookedmember adapted to engage a hook of the casing, and a screwthreadedmember or device adapted 'to engage said' flange lugs so that properadjustment of said screw-threaded clamps will drawv the ends of thecasing circumferentially to and along the inner'face of the side flangesand effect a permanent and air-tight joint;

A still-further purpose of this invention is saryconsiderable' range ofadjustment circumferentially but also provides a fastening means that isadjustable over an indefiniteran'ge ver'- tically so that if thereshould be slight inequalities in the ultimate mounting of the parts ofof the clampw sectional view on a small scale through a lower portion ofa warm air heater to which is to be applied my joint structureforattaching the front ends of the casing to .the side-flanges of thefront of the heater.

Fig. 2, is a horizontal sectional view similar to Fig.1. but on anenlarged scale of the side flanges of the front of thew-arm air heatershowing two sets of my fastening devices and the adjacent forward endsof the casing, the parts being shown in their'ultim'ate orassembledposition.

Fig. 3 ,is a sectional view. similar to Fig. 2

but showing only one 'set of my fastening mechanism, the partsbeingshown in their position before the hooked clip of the clamp is connectedto the adjacent hooked edge of the casing.

Fig. 4 is a view similar .to Fig. 3 and show ing only one setof thefastening mechanism but with the clip connected to the hooked edge ofthe casing; and before the casingis drawn up closely to theadjacentfront flange.

.Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view on of'Fig. 4.

'Fig. 6 is an edge view of the angular-shaped use 5-5 clip and Fig. 'lisa side view thereof looking,

towards the Ieftside of Fig. 6. v v Fig. 8 is a perspective view of theclip portion Referring to the drawing in a more detailed description itwill be seen that my invention is applied .toany conventional form ofwarm air heater having various parts of its body ll fas- I 'are' to besecured to said, sideflang'es I4 by subthe heater and of its front, thefastening means f ficulties encountered in the installation and erec- 1tion of the casings ofwarm air heater's.- -Most of the parts'of mydevice are so small theywould not show on a complete horizontalsectional view of a complete heater but Fig. is a horizontal tenedtogether in the usual manner and having its various operating passagesl2 connected and secured to the verticallyarrahg-ed' front 13 of theheater, which front has its side edges provided with verticallyarranged'flanges 1-4 which are spaced out the proper distance from thebody of the heater so as to be intlie circle of the casm -5 The forwardedges orfront ends of the casing stantially airtight joints so as toproperly confine the air in the chamber-formed between the various partsof the'body of'the heater and-the casing'which surrounds theheaterexcept at the front of the heater where the said chamber is completed bythe front I3 and the several operating passages l2. Thus far the partsmentioned are conventional and wellkn'own. I I

' Upon the-inner surfaoeor face'of eachside flange 14 of the heaterfrontl3 and spaced back from the adjacent outer edge-of the flange; [4

I provide several inwardly extending strong rigid part with the castingforming the front I3 and the side flanges" I4. Towards its inner endeach conveniently and preferably formed by turning inwardly and backagainst the adjacent main clip, as that is ordinarily the procedure inthat it allows the workman to more conveniently apply a screw-driver tothe head or the bolt, to rotate said bolt while the nut is held fromrotation either part of the said casing a relatively narrow edge stripof said casing. This hook it will be seen extends for the full width orheighth of the vertical front edges of each casing for a purpose thatwill hereinafter appear.

The clamp of my fastening device which is to draw and hold the hookededge of the casing by a wrench or other proper tool applied to said nutor by the friction of said nut upon its side of the lug. Obviously if itis more convenient the shank of the bolt can be inserted through the lugfrom the inner or right-hand side of the lug, as these lugs are seen inFigs. 3 and 4, and the nut then placed on the outer end of the boltafter said outer end has been slipped through the apertured arm 24 ofthe clip, whereupon the bolt and nut are tightened up in any desiredmanner as may be most convenient under the circumstances. 7

After the lower half or a bottom section of the casing has thus beencaught into position and adjusted to its ultimate neat, tight and finaltowards and to the inner face of the flange of the front with asubstantially air-tight joint consists of the bolt l8 already mentioned,commonly having a rounded head 20 provided with a slot 2| for theconvenient application to said bolt of 'an'ordinary screw driver, 'a nut22 fitting the screw-threaded shank I! of said bolt 18 and a clip 23.This clip is conveniently formed from a piece or strip of proper weightand strength of metal bent or otherwise formed into angulan shape withone armas 2'4 having an aperture or opening 25 for the passagetherethrough of the shank I! of said bolt. The other arm is formed as aclose hook 26 conveniently made by bending the outer half 21 of said armforwardly and closely back towards the first part 28 of the arm.

It will be understood that the hook on the end of the casing is adaptedto engage the hooked arm of the clamp and in general that these twohooked parts and the clamp as a whole and the lug I6 are so shaped andproportioned that the hook IQ of the casing may be caught into the hook26 of the clamp on the inside of the flange and then by drawing up thebolt l8 against its arm 24 of the clip, the adjacent end of the cas ingI5 willbe drawn up through the intermediate position of Fig. 4 to thefinal or assembled position of the parts shown in Fig. 2.

Ordinarily the casing l5 of such a warm air heater consists of twosubstantially equal upper and lower halves so that the assembler of theheater and its casing can convenientl reach over the top of the lowerhalf to put the usual two clamps at each end of the lower half of thecasr ing into preliminary engaged position. Ordinarily the clamps at oneend of the casingwill be attached first and then the clamps at the otherend will be maneuvered into position, and then first one side or end ofthe casing will be drawn. up circumferentially a short distance and thenthe other end of the casing will be in a similar manner drawn up, andthese steps will be continued until this lower half of the casing is infinal assembled position with the outer surface of the casing adjacentits hook. closely pressed against the inner surface or face of theflange '4 outside the lugs Hi. The material of which the clip'of theclamp iscomposed is somewhat resilient but very strong so that thenecessary pressure in setting up the belt or its nut can be exertedthrough the clamp against the hooked end of the casing.

I have shown the head of the bolt as being mounted next to the aperturedarm 24 of the be spaced at intervals along the edge.

position, the other, or another section will be assembled in position bythe maneuvers already outlined, the workman or his helper reaching overthe top of this section of the casing to get to the lowerclamp, usingfor that purpose a box or stepladder if more convenient, and then easilygetting access to the upper clamp. Ordinarily two of these clamps oneach end of a section will be suflicient although according to the sizeof the heater front and somewhat according to the character of thecasing, three or more clamps may be used spaced suitably along each endof a section. Ordinarily the lugs l6 will be positioned so as to bring-aclamp a few inches from the upper or lower edge of a'section of thecasing'and. if more clamps are necessary they will Of course when moreclamps are to be used the necessary lugs will be provided along theflange of the front. By having the main body of a section of the casingheld in approximate position the hooked edge thereof may be readilybrought into preliminary hooked engagement with the hook of the clamp.It will be noticed however that where it is more convenient the clip 23of a clamp can be entirely disconnected from its lug I 6 and then thehooked end of the clamp can be readily caught into the hook of thecasing and then the clip brought up towards its lug; then by insertingthe shank of the bolt through the clip and the lug the nut can bereadily tarted into position, and after all the clamps are in at leastpreliminary engaging position rotation of the bolts or of the nuts willexert the necessary. pressure to draw the ends of tho casingcircumferentially into neat and air-tightv position as required.

- It will be noted particularly that as the casing hook l9 extends forthe full vertical width of the casing edge the clips can always readilybe placed in position to cooperate with their appropriate lugs. This isadecided improvement over constructions heretofore used where a part ofthe cooperating fastening means was located upon the casing before thecasing was mounted about the heater, since such preliminary mounting ofa part of the fastening mechanism often failed to have its partsproperlyaligned for convenient and neat attachment.

It will now be seen that the fastening herein illustrated and describedis entirely complete without the use of any exterior brackets or boltsor other parts upon the casing or upon the front of the heater. It willbe seen also that my system of fastening means permits ready dismountingof the casing from the h'eater whenever that is required, as formakingrepairs upon the heater or replacing parts thereof; In suchdismounting no part of the clamp or of the casing is damaged and theparts can be readily reassembled following the procedure outlined forthe first installation. 1

What I claim is:

A means for adjusting and fastening a flexible sheet metal casing to theopposite edges of a rigid front panel of a furnace wherein the panel hasshort inwardly projecting posts spaced back from each edge of the paneland each post isprovided with a transverse bolt-receiving aperture nearits free end and the spaced ends of the casing are turned inwardly andback and making a close hook extending the full width of the casing'ateach end thereof, said adjusting and fastening means consisting of aseries of three part clamps, each comprisinga bolt and a cooperating nutand an L-shaped-clip, the shank'of which clip has a bolt-receivingaperture near its free end and the base portion of which L is a closehook each of said hooks of the clips being slidably mounted in anadjacent casing hook for free adjustability along the width of thecasing whereby on the parts being assembled with said clamp hooksengaging the oppositely disposed parts of said hooked ends of the casingand with said clip shanks respectively opposite a post and E. WAGSTAFF.

